Reinforced Toe

I've been seeing a lot of sock patterns with reinforced heels. I don't think I have ever worn out a heel on a pair of socks, though, and I have socks that I've been wearing for 20 years. What always wears out on my socks are the toes. Therefore, I've experimented with several different methods of reinforcing the toes on a couple pairs of socks I've been knitting and frogging for a long time. I've tried adding a strand of heavy nylon thread, and working the toe in a smaller needle. I finally took inspiration from Cat Bordhi's reinforced heels, and came up with this method. This is written for a toe-up pattern with a wide, rounded end, but the basic stitch pattern (which is actually called "heel stitch") could be used for almost any toe.

Besides being very sturdy, this is also very comfortable. I love the cross-stitch effect of the slipped stitches, too.

The increases for this pattern are worked along the edges of the foot. These instructions are written for two circular needles, but this can also be used with DPNs. If working with DPNs, you may switch to the full number of needles whenever you want. Just be sure to mark the row's halfway point to separate the instep from the sole. Both are worked the same, so it doesn't matter which is which.

Finally, your gauge in heel stitch will be different than in stockinette or garter stitch. My normal gauge for this yarn and needle (size 1) is about 7 sts. and 11.5 rows per inch. In heel stitch my gauge is about 10 sts. and 16 rows per inch.

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Cast on 14 stitches (or whatever number of stitches you prefer) using a Turkish Cast-on or Judy Becker's Magic Cast-on.

Row 1: *K1, S1 purl-wise.* Repeat to end.

Row 2: Instep (needle 1) - *K1, make one left-slanted increase (M1L or LLinc). K to one stitch before end of needle. Make one right-slanted increase (M1R or LRinc).* Repeat from * for sole (needle 2).

Repeat rows 1-2 until desired number of stitches is reached for sock foot.

Row 1: *S1 purl-wise, K1.* Repeat to end.

Row 2: K to end.

Row 3: *K1, S1 purl-wise.* Repeat to end.

Row 4: K to end.

Repeat these 4 rows until toe reaches desired length.

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We now return you to your regularly scheduled sock pattern.

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Bamboo Vine Lace Socks

I'm making this sock from SWTC's Bamboo, using the pattern for Toe Up Vine Lace Socks. I worked on this for about a week, on my trip to Nebraska for Thanksgiving. Now I think it's another sock that's destined for a meeting with the frog.

I think I cast on 16 stitches using the Turkish Cast-on. I started the vine lace pattern on the instep as soon as I had enough stitches on the toe (56). Now I'm not too sure that's going to be comfortable rubbing against the top of my foot inside shoes. Next, I really started the heel turn too soon. Now the sole is a little too short, and the heel turn row is under the bottom of my heel.

Finally, I increased to 67 stitches after the heel turn to give me enough stitches for 7 repeats of the lace pattern. That is turning out to be just too loose around my ankle. The only solution for that is to frog back past the heel turn, and use 55 stitches for 6 repeats of the lace.

I'm still not at all sure about having the lace on top of my foot, though. I don't know if I should stop frogging at the heel, or just frog all the way back to the toe and do the foot in plain stockinette. I'm afraid that's really what I should do, doggone it.

The good news is that I learned some things. I used Cat Bordhi's short row heel without an arch expansion. I ended the heel after picking up the wrapped stitches, without doing long rows. The increases I put in the last row of the heel for the lace pattern might have made up for not having an arch expansion, though. I think I might try to put some increases in the sole next time to create one.